Microsoft Confirms Windows 10 Launch For July 29

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By Kevin Parrish
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Microsoft announced on Monday that Windows 10 will be released on July 29. The platform will be made available across the globe in 190 markets as a free upgrade from Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. Customers who are still sporting Windows 8 will need to upgrade to Windows 8.1 first before getting on the Windows 10 bandwagon.

"We designed Windows 10 to run our broadest device family ever, including Windows PCs, Windows tablets, Windows phones, Windows for the Internet of Things, Microsoft Surface Hub, Xbox One and Microsoft HoloLens—all working together to empower you to do great things," said Microsoft's Terry Myerson in a recent blog.

As we've covered in the past, Windows 10 for desktop brings back the Start Menu, although it's a bit different than what's offered in Windows 7. The company has stuffed Live Tiles into the Menu, providing the best of both worlds: the ease of locating installed programs with the quick access of "Metro" Windows apps like Netflix, Hulu Plus and the Settings app.

By working with the public via the Insider Program, Microsoft is striving to make Windows 10 the best operating system ever. That includes introducing a new redesigned Windows Store for providing not only apps and games, but music, movies and TV shows. Of course, users can also install their favorite x86-based programs and games, as well.

As a brief recap, Windows 10 will include Cortana, Microsoft's personal digital assistant that resides on the taskbar. The company will also introduce a sleek web browser called Edge that is capable of zeroing in on a website's text and cutting out the visual distractions (ads, etc.) for easier reading. On the security front, Windows 10 includes Windows Defender, which will protect customers from harmful viruses and malware for free.

Myerson's blog also indicated that Windows 10 will be the ideal platform for PC gaming, as the operating system will come packed with DirectX 12. Got an Xbox One console? You'll be able to stream games from the device to a Windows 10 PC or tablet.

"Xbox on Windows 10 brings the expansive Xbox Live gaming network to both Windows 10 PCs and tablets," Myerson said. "Communicate with your friends on Windows 10 PCs and Xbox One – while playing any PC game. You can capture, edit and share your greatest gaming moments with Game DVR, and play new games with friends across devices."

All in all, Windows 10 is shaping up to be an awesome operating system. Current users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 should see a notification on the System Tray for reserving a spot in the Windows 10 upgrade process. For more information about making a reservation, head here.

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Kevin Parrish
48 Comments Comment from the forums
  • jimmysmitty
    Since they haven't said how the upgrade will work I am going to assume it is probably going to be much like the 8 to 8.1 upgrade, provided in the store which means a clean install wont be possible.

    Probably going to have to buy a new copy to do that which is fine. I got 8 for $15 bucks so I wont complain at having to buy 10.
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    thank you MS. now i can get rid of that annoying charm bar on my 8.1 laptop
    Reply
  • Urzu1000
    I've been using the technical preview since September. With each new build, things have grown less stable. The first build was ironically one of the best. They have a lot of bug smashing to do before July.
    Reply
  • SteelCity1981
    Its Windows 8 with a start menu. I've been using the preview for a while now and there is little diff between Windows 8 and Windows 10, which is a good thing I guess when it comes to people migrating from windows 8 or even 7, but it's nothing that's going to set new records by any means. although I do suspect it to be more popular then windows 8, but I don't know if I can say the same about windows 7. my biggest gripes are, there is still no option to revert the start menu back to the classic start menu. ms still wants to push its metro stuff onto people in some shape way or form, by jamming it into the start menu. i'm not a fan of the ribbon navigation menu either, the navigation menus in windows vista and windows 7 worked just fine, I wish there was a way for ms to have an option of a classic windows 7 style windows navigation menu to choose from instead.
    Reply
  • DookieDraws
    For those who aren't eligible for the free W10 upgrade, it would be nice to see Microsoft at least offer W10 (even if for a limited time) to everyone else for a low introductory price of no more than $25 USD. C'mon, Microsoft! You can do that! :)
    Reply
  • Dylan Orr
    Something curious.. regardless of the Launch on the 29th. . running win7-64 pro got the pop up today, 'reserved' win10 with email etc.. every since the reservation I've noticed slight bandwidth use aswell as periodic hard drive use, something akin to downloading files from a torrent. Curious if there's some background download happening even if it's not fully released yet, perhaps to distribute the load over time so come launch day they don't get completely drowned, (considering it's just over 3gb?)
    Reply
  • jimmysmitty
    15969438 said:
    Its Windows 8 with a start menu. I've been using the preview for a while now and there is little diff between Windows 8 and Windows 10, which is a good thing I guess when it comes to people migrating from windows 8 or even 7, but it's nothing that's going to set new records by any means. although I do suspect it to be more popular then windows 8, but I don't know if I can say the same about windows 7. my biggest gripes are, there is still no option to revert the start menu back to the classic start menu. ms still wants to push its metro stuff onto people in some shape way or form, by jamming it into the start menu. i'm not a fan of the ribbon navigation menu either, the navigation menus in windows vista and windows 7 worked just fine, I wish there was a way for ms to have an option of a classic windows 7 style windows navigation menu to choose from instead.

    I actually came to really like the new navigation menus. A lot more useful things are right there such as the ability to show hidden files, map network drives etc.

    As for comparing it, it is a lot like 8.1 but there is a lot in the background that has changed, much like 7 to 8. Most we wont use but still there is a lot of change.

    15969456 said:
    For those who aren't eligible for the free W10 upgrade, it would be nice to see Microsoft at least offer W10 (even if for a limited time) to everyone else for a low introductory price of no more than $25 USD. C'mon, Microsoft! You can do that! :)

    The fact that they are giving it away for free for users of 7 (the majority) and 8.1 that alone is pretty awesome. Very few normal people are on anything but 7 at least, only the insane die hards who wont budge from XP or those who are still for some strange reason on Vista.

    Aside from that, it is not cheap to develop an OS, even if they reuse a lot of old stuff. Imagine the software engineer median pay is about $100K/year and that's for someone who is new. More experienced ones probably make well more and over 3-5 years of development gets expensive.

    As well, they did that with 8. If you had a recent copy of 7 you could get it for as low as $15 bucks. Not a lot of people did it though.
    Reply
  • drwho1
    I'm using the preview and Classic Shell for the Start Menu.
    It works just like Windows 7.
    Reply
  • captaincharisma
    odds are most people who are not eligible for the upgrade are on PC's that would barely be able to run it or not at all
    Reply
  • notuptome2004
    Since they haven't said how the upgrade will work I am going to assume it is probably going to be much like the 8 to 8.1 upgrade, provided in the store which means a clean install wont be possible.

    Probably going to have to buy a new copy to do that which is fine. I got 8 for $15 bucks so I wont complain at having to buy 10.



    The upgrade works via windows update since Windows 7 dont have App store and right now you may see a pop up in your system trey showing a windows icon logo this is a thing to reserve your copy of windows 10 and such . Microsoft will Pre-load windows 10 before july 29th you can head over to neowin.net they have more news and info
    Reply